A large number of power trains associated with, for example, motors or engines, include provision for operating auxiliary devices via a power take-off. Frequently, the power take-off is in the form of a shaft connected to the auxiliary devices.
Depending upon the system, any number of a large variety of reasons may exist that require occasional decoupling of the power take-off from the power train and a variety of proposals of coupling and decoupling mechanisms have been made. By way of example, attention may be directed to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,784,822 issued Mar. 12, 1957 to Heiser; 3,835,722 issued Sept. 17, 1974 to Bertram, et al; and 4,482,039 issued Nov. 13, 1984 to Harris.
While such couplings may operate generally satisfactorily for their intended purpose, the same generally fail to provide for positive latching of the coupling in either the coupled or decoupled state. The failure to provide such means can result in operational difficulties in the case of system failures. For example, unintentional attempts to couple or decouple during operation of the power train may cause damage to the coupling and/or provide undesirably high loads elsewhere in the system.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the above problems.